Everything we know about the Arc Raiders Toxic Swamp event

arc raiders toxic trail — (Image credit: Embark)

Recent updates

January 26, 2026: The reveal of the Headwinds update has shown that the Toxic Swamp was actually an apparent red herring left in the code to throw off dataminers and the community - there is no planned Swamp map modifier or event at time of writing. Instead, players will be getting the new Arc Raiders Bird City map modifier, which adds flocks of treasure-hoarding birds to the Buried City map. Check out our guide to find out more!

The Arc Raiders Toxic Swamp event has been a point of speculation for weeks now, with the idea of Miyazaki-style poisonous swamps entering the game. Datamining and leaks showed that swamps and potentially even volcanic elements were planned in the wake of the winter Arc Raiders Cold Snap event, but now that's been and gone and it seems as though the swamplands are yet to bubble up. Below we'll cover everything revealed so far about this event, and what players can expect when it does arrive.

All known Arc Raiders Toxic Swamp details

Arc Raiders raider in a pilot helmet looks at the camera in a sunlit forest — (Image credit: Embark Studios)

Below are all the known or leaked details so far about the Toxic Swamp event in Arc Raiders.

The Toxic Swamps have not been officially announced by the developers. However, the Arc Raiders community has dataleaked information that reveals the planned existence of such a map or map modifier, such as this post from redditor InquistorOverhauls.
There is no known release date yet, but it seems likely to be soon. The leaks suggested that the Toxic Swamps would go live on January 19, as the Cold Snap event ended, but the trials for that week have since been changed, and there's currently no evidence to say when the Swamp update would go live.
"Thermal Rocks" will play a part. The datamined trial talks about delivering Thermal Rocks, suggestive of geysers or volcanic terrain. Players have been expecting poisonous environments, but thermal elements also imply that there will be peril from heat.

The idea of toxic swamps seems terrifying, because it's an element of the world that might not affect the hostile Arc robots, but do damage to the player, further weighing Arc Raiders in favor of the machines. Still, that may align these maps in favor of PvE? We'll update this page the moment we know more for the time being…

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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.